We see these people in our everyday
life. Basically they are invisible unless we are forced to look at them and
read their signs they hold while standing beside our car as we wait for the
light to turn. Homeless Please Help or
Hungry Will Work for Food. I always want to ask them what one thing causes
their lives to turn out the way it did. Or maybe there were many circumstances
that brought them to this. Some you
know have mental illness and others have substance abuse. Then there are others
that you know but for the grace of God go you.
Our son has always been fascinated with these
people. I have explained to him many times that you have to be very careful in
life to make good choices. You do have
to get an education and have many skills to get you where you want. Like most
teens this advice falls on deaf ears. Truly
he even at 18 is ill prepared for what the world expects from him. I tell him that each and every one of those
people have a family. Really I hope that at some point in their lives they had
someone who loved, supported and cared for them. It is not a given I know.
The other week our son for the first time
decides to walk to McDonalds for breakfast alone. It was a Saturday morning and
we live in a neighborhood with many walkers. So there were many people out and
we were not worried. We live in a relatively safe area but it is near 2-95 so
that is a worry. Off he goes on his adventure
with his cell phone in hand. We told him
to call and we wanted him back to help with some things around the house. Well he didn’t come home but called about
every 3 to 4 hours. We decided to just see how long he would stay out and
thought he was avoiding the work that needed to be completed. You have to let go sometime and he had money
along with his phone. He called in often
and told us where he was. Mom I’m at
Target and now I’m at Walgreens and got a drink and snack. He returned later that afternoon and all was
well.
Later we were talking about what he did
while he was out. Turns out he was talking to homeless people. One man he said had a home but he couldn’t live
there because he had a restraining order against him. Another guy lived in his car and worked at as
dishwasher. Then there was guy around
his age that we had seen a few weeks before.
We saw him walking one night talking to himself and performing a ritual
around each pole. This guy had bottles tied around his neck and things hanging
on his belt. The other guys he talked to told him to stay away from him. Of course he didn’t listen and I think
finally went in Target to and found a security guard to get away for this man. After all these stories I asked him was it
fun hanging out with the homeless that day. He didn’t really enjoy that day on the street
and I hope he learned some good life lessons.
So now when we are driving around I have to ask “Do you know that
person?” Sometime it is yes but like
with this gentleman and his dog the answer is no. I don’t approve of what he did and his
grandmother has already given him a piece of her mind, yes he told her the whole
story, but it is good for him as well as all of us to remember that these are
real people. Other than that I don’t
know what to do. I don’t roll down my window and give them money. I will
confess I have bought an extra meal and drink and handed it to them. More importantly we just need to keep our
humanity when we see them.
